What T Station Offers the Best Deals on Rent in Boston?

Many renters in Boston are willing to live in whatever neighborhood offers them the best deals, but with one catch: They just want proximity to public transportation. It’s the best way to get in and out of the center of the city without a car and, with its many delays, the bane of many a Bostonian’s existence — but for better or worse, the T is a necessary evil for renters.

We wanted to find out how much renters are paying to live close to the train in Boston by taking a look at the median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment within a half-mile radius (about a 10-minute walk) of each T stop. Read on for our breakdown below or click here to see the full list of rent prices near T stops.

Unsurprisingly, a short commute will cost you. The closer a T stop is to the city’s center, the more expensive the rent in the area is. For the Green and Blue lines, the most expensive T stop was the one closest to the Boston Common: Boylston Station was tied with Copley (median rent price of $3,500 a month) for the most expensive Green Line station to rent an apartment near, and Bowdoin Station ($3,000) topped the list for the Blue Line. South Station ($3,680), with its proximity to the Financial District, was the most expensive Red Line station to rent near and Tufts Medical Center ($3,565), the closest T stop to the small and pricy Bay Village neighborhood, came in at No. 1 for the Orange Line.

The half-mile radius around South Station was the most expensive area to rent across all train line stops that we analyzed.

While there are trends that exist across all the train lines for the most part — like the fact that it’s more expensive to live closer to downtown and less expensive to live further out — some lines are a little pricier than others. To determine which lines were the most expensive and least expensive to rent near, we calculated the average rent price across all the stops (for the Green Line, we only counted each stop once, even if multiple lines passed through it).

The Orange Line is the most expensive line to rent near on average, according to our data. With an average rent price of $2,938, it beat the Green Line ($2,727), the next most expensive line, by a significant amount. When looking at the top 10 most expensive T stops to rent an apartment near, half are Orange Line stops. Even though the Orange Line also services more affordable neighborhoods like Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, the ultra-high prices near downtown around stops like Tufts Medical Center ($3,565), Chinatown ($3,485), and Back Bay Station ($3,421) drove the high average across the line.

Meanwhile, the Blue Line was the least expensive line to rent near, with the average price across the whole line coming out to $2,605. Unlike the other train lines, the Blue Line had no stops on our list of top 10 most expensive stops to rent near. Its three most expensive stations —Bowdoin Station, Government Center, and State Street — all tied for its most expensive station to rent a one-bedroom apartment near at $3,000 a month. This makes them all tie for No. 21 spot on our list of most expensive T stops.

The Blue Line, which has the least stops of any of the lines, also has the lowest range in rents. On the high end of the spectrum, each line has stops where rent prices fall between $3,000 and $3,700 a month (other than the Blue Line, which caps out at $3,000). The Red Line has the largest range — with South Station ($3,680) topping our list and Wollaston Station in Quincy at the bottom ($1,950).

Click here to see the full list of rent prices near every T stop.

The most expansive line in the MBTA, the Green Line branches out into four distinct lines: B, C, D, and E. All four lines pass through downtown Boston, stopping at Copley, Arlington, Boylston, Park Street and Government Center — but once they branch out, their surrounding neighborhoods have vastly different median rent prices.

On average, rent prices surrounding the stops on the C line — which continues on from downtown Boston into Brookline — are the most expensive of all the Green lines. This aligns with our monthly Massachusetts Rent Report data, which often shows the ritzy suburbs of Brookline competing with and sometimes overtaking Boston for the most expensive median rent prices in the state. While the D line also passes through the same area, its Brookline stops are much further from the town’s central business-heavy drag on Beacon Street, explaining the slightly lower rent prices.

The most expensive stops to rent near that are exclusive to the C line are Saint Mary’s Street ($2,924), Kent Street ($2,900), and Saint Paul Street ($2,876) — three of the four closest train stops to downtown. The least expensive stop is at the end of the at Cleveland Circle ($2,484), the only stop in neighboring Brighton.

For renters who want proximity to Brookline but are looking for savings, Allston–Brighton is the answer. For example, the median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment near the Washington Square Station in Brookline is $2,707 a month. Meanwhile, a half a mile away in Brighton, you’ll find the Washington Street Station on the B line, where the median rent is only $2,400 a month. That means that a roughly 10-minute walk stands between renters and potential savings of up to $3,684 a year.

The B line, which passes through parts of Allston and Brighton, is on average the least expensive train line to rent an apartment near. Allston and Brighton are typically ranked the most affordable neighborhoods to live in Boston, so this is unsurprising.

However, the B line does buck the trend of the farthest stations from downtown being the cheapest areas to rent in. The three least expensive stations to rent an apartment near on the B line are Warren Street ($2,250), Allston Street ($2,250), and Griggs Street ($2,294). These are all located in the student-centric neighborhood of Allston on Commonwealth Avenue — firmly in the middle of the B line’s path. At the end of the line in Brighton, still popular with students but with family-oriented pockets, you’ll find slightly more expensive rent. For example, in the half-mile radius around Boston College Station, the last stop on the train, the median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,460.

Below is our complete list of rent prices near every T stop in Boston based on our rent data.

For this study, ApartmentAdvisor analyzed listings available on its platform within a half-mile radius of every T Stop Station in Boston, over the time period of February, March, and April 2024.

For a look at average rent prices at the state level, refer to our Massachusetts Rent Report, published monthly. ApartmentAdvisor also publishes a Boston market report that breaks down rental market trends, which is updated daily.